Steel City Awaitin' Picture

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Arnold Jeffers, in the foreground wearing safety glasses, is overseeing the installation of the steel reinforcing bar assemblies, and the flexible 1/4" masonite formed over the 2 x 4 lumber, used in conjunction with each other to form and brace the casting form for the archways on the gallery's exterior walls. The steel rebar "assemblies" as I call them, are made up on the ground and twist-tied together for strength and rigidity. These shown are actually wrongly constructed, by our earlier contractor. Arnold has devised a way to use them in this way, otherwise we would discard them as scrap iron.

The assemblies of steel are then connected and tied to the vertical steel in the columns for additional strength. This gallery roof will be cast in concrete as well, so these steps are very important to ensure the structure doesn't detach from the building and get blown away in a hurricane (not likely, eh?)!

Wooden Eliptical Archway Forms

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Progressing Eastward

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Looking back at our house, from the northeast corner, you can see the progress, from west to east, as our home is built, block by block, masonry nail after masonry nail! There is a method to this way of "directional" construction, or crew movement through the construction process and the structure. The wind plays a significant role in the process. West to east construction method allows that the last wall put up, that last window installed, that last opening sealed is in that eastern most wall...... don't block that wonderful wind, which generally blows out of the north and east.

Note the four columns of our gallery, wrapped with collars of wood? These four are the pillars which carry the concrete gallery roof. The collars are concrete casting forms which will create the "collar trim" and also provide a base for the plywood which will be used to from the wall above the pillars and above the half-elliptical arches.

Still Life With Coffee Mug

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